First Green India summit starts in Washington

New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the US India Business Council (USIBC) have launched a joint Green India Summit in Washington, a CII spokesperson said here Thursday.

This was the first CII-USIBC joint conference focussed on green technologies, the spokesperson said. 'The summit addressed the opportunities and prospects in areas of water, green buildings, clean coal technologies, renewable energy including solar, wind and biofuels, energy efficiency, nuclear energy and climate change issues.'

Speaking at the event via video link from New Delhi, Shyam Saran, the prime minister's special envioy on climate change, spoke about the opportunities arising out of the recent India-US civil nuclear agreement, India's position on climate change issues and the potential solutions to India's power needs in the coming years.

Speaking at the event, Indian ambassador to the US Ronen Sen highlighted the need for a focussed approach to India's energy needs and sought partnerships with US companies for modern technologies to achieve world class solutions, according to the CII spokesperson.

In his keynote address, US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez touched upon the ongoing financial crisis and assured the participants of a favourable outcome. He complemented the Indian and US leadership on the successful completion of the civil nuclear agreement and highlighted the areas of cooperation this agreement will bring about including trade, investment and job creation in both countries. The highlight of his speech was the announcement of largest ever civil nuclear trade mission to India scheduled later this year.

"India, while upgrading its power plants and enhancing capacity by way of foreign investment and collaboration, is very conscious of the environmental issues associated with it and simultaneously is addressing the issue," said Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.

He also welcomed American companies to participate in modernising existing plants in India and building new ones.

The Green Summit was also addressed by representatives from leading companies from the US and India, which included Dow Chemicals, GE, Westinghouse, Tata Consulting Engineers, Universal Infrastructure Consultants and HSBC.